The young man was pulled out of the ruins caused by the devastating earthquake in Turkey after 63 hours, and he described what it all looked like.
High school student Gurkan Ozturk, who is 63 hours after the earthquake rescued from under a collapsed five-story building in the Turkish city of Hataj, recorded the hours he spent under the ruins with his mobile phone, reports Anadolu Agency. Ozturk (19) was at his grandfather’s house in Antakya at the time of the earthquake on February 6. Due to a strong earthquake, the building collapsed. His parents’ house, where his father, mother and brother were, was not damaged.
Ozturk used his mobile phone to record the moments spent in the small space that allowed him to survive. The first words on the video, in which they are in a narrow space covered with rubble they see only the hand and the armare: “I was hit by an earthquake. God help me, I hope everyone is okay. I don’t want to die young”.
In the moments when he felt the aftershocks under the ruins, Ozturk said: “Friends, it’s been almost 40 minutes, I think I managed to make a gap where my feet are, I dug with the top of my hand and filled the gap with stones so that it does not collapse. I feel the cold air from below, I think I made a hole through which I can get oxygenk. Let’s see if we can survive this earthquake? If I survive this earthquake I think I will appreciate things in life better. There are still many people to love. I love you all very much, especially mom, dad, brothers. Don’t be afraid, I hope you are not sad. I don’t know what’s going on outside, but I hope there are no big problems.”
The videos show the young man hitting the wall with stones for the rescue teams to hear him. Great joy came when heard the voice of his father Ertugrul Ozturk. Ozturk, who gave information about his state of health and his surroundings by hitting the wall with a stone once or twice with the assistance of his father, with this method of communication, he significantly facilitated the work of the rescue teams and he was rescued after 63 hours.
High school student who asked about his books after being rescued, filmed his days-long wait in the earthquake rubble
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— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency)February 12, 2023
Another video taken during Ozturk’s conversation with paramedics in an ambulance also went viral on social media. After being pulled from the rubble, Ozturk told emergency services that his books were left under the rubble. Ozturk is currently staying at his uncle’s house in Adana.
The Anatolia team visited him in Adana, and in the conversation he told how they were doing the moments under the ruins were terrible. He told how he was at the time of the earthquake formed the so-called “triangle of life”, which very likely saved his life. “I was in ruins. I couldn’t hear the outside sound. I made myself air holes. I was breaking concrete for 20-30 hours. I prepared myself to wait another 2-3 days, thinking they wouldn’t be able to find me.”
“Thank God I had a phone, I slept with my head on the phone. I often lost consciousness, I talked to myself. I gave lectures as if there were 45-50 people with me. I tried to reach the stone when I heard voices from outside. My father said: ‘Speak, hit the rock once if you’re hurt, hit twice if you’re not. Then he said to me, ‘Are you okay?'”
(WORLD)